avatarAnthi Psomiadou

Summary

The article discusses the psychological underpinnings of criminal behavior, emphasizing the need for self-awareness and inner healing to address societal issues of criminality.

Abstract

The article "The Hydras within us all" delves into the origins of criminal behavior, asserting that it stems from deep-rooted psychological issues formed during one's childhood. The author, Anthi Psomiadou, suggests that criminal acts are a manifestation of unresolved trauma and misinterpreted experiences from early life, which are often suppressed in the subconscious. The piece argues that true redemption and societal change can only occur when individuals, including criminals, engage in introspection and emotional work to uncover and heal these past wounds. Psomiadou emphasizes that while prisons serve to punish, they should also focus on the rehabilitation of the individual's psyche. Moreover, the article calls for a collective effort towards self-awareness to prevent the transmission of "unhealthy" psychological patterns to future generations.

Opinions

  • Criminality is not an alien concept but originates from within our society and individual pasts.
  • The inner filters developed during childhood shape how individuals perceive and react to events, influencing their potential for criminal behavior.
  • Imprisonment alone is insufficient in addressing criminality; psychological healing and self-awareness are crucial.
  • Parents and society as a whole contribute to the psychological development of individuals, and thus, share responsibility for the roots of criminal behavior.
  • Self-awareness and personal responsibility are key to transforming society and reducing criminality.
  • The author advocates for a practical approach to self-development, beyond theoretical knowledge, involving direct engagement with one's personality and actions.
  • The article suggests that the uncovering of one's divine substance requires both intellectual and practical efforts, including the study of humanity's wisdom and the willingness to toil for personal freedom.

The Hydras within us all

Criminality doesn’t come from elsewhere. It is born here.

Photo by Marco Chilese on Unsplash

This force that pushed you to rape and kill, has all its roots inside your past’s field. Haven’t tried or not to clear your lake’s mud, you never found the real core of that. The Hydra lies inside your subconscious. Its multiple heads make you unconscious. Those women weren’t your abusive mother. You are confused by your projections’ cover. They caught you after many years, in which your action didn’t allay your fears. You thought those murders would have been redemption through the revenge-field. You were a victim that stayed attached to that; Instead of taking responsibility, you turned yourself into a killing machine. You thought this proved that you dare, but the power you felt vanished into thin air. The prison’s cage can make your heart even darker, but it can also be your enlightenment’s partner. Will you dig in to see the truth? To feel your pain’s covered-up root? To cry and mourn for you and all? To forgive, to be unchained? To discover that your childhood’s context you misinterpret? To be transformed, to go beyond? What’s going to happen then? The choice is yours.

Having studied over 55 crime cases during the last two years, one of the basic things that are obvious to me is this: the factors that turn somebody into a killer/criminal, don’t come up suddenly. The inner filters through which a person automatically passes the external events and then reacts according to them are formed during childhood. The route of those filters then depends on the way a person chooses to live; within illusion or self-awareness?

All of us misinterpreted behaviors/conditions/events during our childhood, because that was the best we could do, given the means we had back then. Apart from misinterpretations, we also had put in our subconscious things that were “untouchable” and unmanageable back then. It’s OK. There is no need for guilt; guilt offers nothing. But, there is a need for awareness. The whole point is to see clearly again all those things during our route as adults, to explain, to interpret according to the means we have “now” in an “evolved” version, to understand, to forgive, to take responsibility for ourselves.

We tend to think that by imprisoning criminals, we face and manage criminality. It’s not enough. If it was enough, we would have seen a decrease in criminality’s percentage. Prisons all over the world have to work with the psychological “healing” of these people. BUT, it’s not enough either. Because these people didn’t come from another planet. They grew up in OUR society, and I can tell you for sure that MANY of them had parents with what we call a normal life, who tried to do their best to raise their kids. These parents too — like all of us — had their misinterpretations and their own suppressed material inside their subconscious’ black box. So, if we want to beat the root of the problem and not just its surface, we have to consciously work for self-awareness. Each one of us. This way, as we “widen up” ourselves more and more, less and less unconscious passing on of “unhealthy” material to children will be happening.

You know, the uncovering of our divine substance isn’t something that is done just by reading philosophical texts, writing poems, following spiritual rituals and practices typically, repeating wise quotes without having dug into their meaning, preaching, and talking about self-development theoretically… The real uncovering needs — along with researching humanity’s written wisdom — work within the field of everyday life by “researching” in ourselves, by facing our personality’s actions/reactions/motives directly, by taking responsibility, by really and practically toil for freedom.

Anthi Psomiadou — CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International : Credit must be given to the creator/ Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted/ No derivatives

Sacred Feminine
Poetry
Crime
Society
Anthi Psomiadou
Recommended from ReadMedium